J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by J2SkiNews

The remarkably consistent 2012-13 ski season is continuing in Scotland, with fresh snow still falling, and forecast to continue in to May.

The cold first half of spring is a repeat of last season, but in 2012 the cold April and May followed a warm winter in which slopes were closed for much of February and March, as a result Cairngorm ski area has reported over 200,000 skiers visiting so far this season, more than double the 2011-12 total.

Cairngorm is the only ski area of the five Scottish centres that's still open every day and has more than 600m of top-to-bottom vertical open. A recent statement from the ski area said it looked likely it would continue to operate in to May, 'subject to demand' – highlighting a common problem when conditions remain good in Scotland this late in the year – not enough skiers or boarders turning up to justify operations.

On the West Coast Nevis Range has announced it has closed for the season on several occasions but has subsequently re-opened at weekends as the fresh snow keeps falling and good snow cover continues. It says it may re-open for the May Day bank holiday, whereas Glencoe to the south says it definitely will – subject to weather conditions. The only real negative in recent Scottish weather for skiers and lift operations have been some very strong to gale force winds.

Grooming the snow at Lech, Picture Credit: Sepp Mallaun (c) LZTG

Snowmaking has been the big spend of the world's leading ski areas for more than a decade now as they battle, some critics say, to try to beat climate change, but in most cases it seems to be more about providing a snow guarantee from mid-autumn to early-spring so that skiers and boarders will feel confident to invest in pre-booking their holidays.

Now the leading Austrian resort of Lech, which next winter will celebrate 40 years of snowmaking, has published some interesting statistics on their snowmaking operation.

• In Lech Zürs there are 68 compressed air and 60 propeller snow cannons and 212 snow lances in use.
• The amount of snow generated per season is around 850.000m³.
• Snowmaking covers around 53% of the pistes in Lech Zürs.
• The maximum rate that water can be turned into snow is 800 litres per second.
• Snowmaking currently costs Lech just under EUR 6 million per season
• The energy used for snowmaking each season is, on average, one third of that used to run a 115-bed 4-star hotel so a small fraction of the energy used for resort accommodation.

Lech's Ski Lift Company has just financed a study by Prof. Ulrike Pröbstl from the Institute for Ecological Research in Etting-Polling in cooperation with AVEGA (working group on vegetation in the Alps) in to the effect of snowmaking in early autumn on flora and fauna.

The study found that snowcover was actually good for the preservation of flora, which had in any case died back by the end of summer on the slopes, and it was more important that snow melted away quickly in spring.

The current snowmaking guidelines from Lech's local Vorarlberg government permit snowmaking to start from 20 October, following a comprehensive approval procedure, and a recent decision means that artificial snow can be stockpiled in Lech from the first of October.

The Lech Ski Lifts are advocating an earlier start to snowmaking from the beginning of October. The would create a more flexible time frame for the activities required for snowmaking to ensure the season can start around the end of November.

The company says it stops snowmaking as early as possible in the spring, moving around any major drifts to cover slopes evenly, rather than allowing large deposits to remain piled up in places which take much longer to thaw and potentially damage new flora spring growth.

The Snow Camp Rally, a fun-packed charity fund-raising race across middle-England to try to get in as many runs at possible at each of the country's five indoor snow centres, is back this October. Anyone wanting to take part is advised to register now – as only 20 teams can compete.

The race, which open to teams of four who must provide their own transport, equipment, and commit to raising at least £1000 for innovative youth charity Snow Camp, and has been described by Ski Sunday stalwart Ed Leigh as, "the closest thing you'll get to the Gumball Rally in the UK," willk take place on Friday 25th October 2013.

Kicking off at The Snow Centre, Hemel Hempstead and taking around 12 hours to complete, much of that on around 350 miles of road between the five centres, teams attempt to get in as many runs at they can during 30 minute spells at each of the five indoor snow facilities. The most runs equals the best prizes.

This year the race will finish at the new InTheSnow Live ski show at the NEC in Birmingham for an après ski speciality in the mega bar planned for the event (inthesnowlive.com).

Racers will travel via Milton Keynes Sno!Zone, the Castleford Sno!Zone, Chillfactore in Manchester and finally the Snowdome in Tamworth vefore heading to the NEC for around 6pm.

The aim of it all, apart from fun and some October skiing and boarding for the teams, is to raise funds for Snow-Camp which uses a combination of skiing, snowboarding and life-skills programmes to support inner-city young people.

For more information and to register go to: www.snow-camp.org.uk/rally

In what is believed to be the largest single incident avalanche death toll this ski season, five men taking part in an event to promote safety in back country skiing and snowboarding were killed near Loveland ski area in Colorado on Saturday.

The five dead men, all in their early thirties, were all carrying avalanche beacons and were equipped with special avalanche safety devices including Avalungs and float packs.

"Everything was about safety. Our goal was about being safe. The goal for us was just getting together to talk about safety and try some new gear," Mike Bennett, who rescued one survivor of the six participants, told the Denver Post after rescuing.

The event called "the Rocky Mountain High Backcountry Bash" was intended to raise consciousness and money for snowriding education for the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, according to local media reports.

The five deaths nearly doubled the number of avalanche deaths in Colorado this year which now stands at 11 and was the biggest death toll from a single avalanche in the state for more than 50 years.

Closer to home four climbers were killed in an avalanche near Glencoe ski area in Scotland in January and a further three close to Cairngorm in February, altogether 128 avalanches were reported in Scottish mountains this season.

A documentary film of the summer upgrades at a top ski resort may not initially appear to be riveting viewing, but La Plagne, part of the giant French Paradiski resort, has just released such a film online to proive those pre-conceptions wrong!

The film, titled "200 days to get through summer," which was record during summer 2012, condenses eight months of work and a 13 million Euro spend by the lift company in to just 15 minutes.

"People were always asking us what we do after the winter season," said Jérôme Grellet (Director General of the Société d'Aménagement de la Plagne (SAP), "We usually answered that we wake the marmots up at the beginning of the summer then send them back to sleep at the end of the autumn. However, as you can see from the video, it's not all as simple as that!"

The scale of the works was particularly significant with a programme that included moving lift stations, building new chairlifts, extending the snow-making network, remodelling the slopes, maintaining the stock of vehicles (snow groomers, scooters, etc.) and inspecting the machines.

SAP employs about 140 permanent staff and 60 double season workers. 70 of them took part in the filming. Summer 2012 achievement included moving 150,000 cubic metres of earth, the equivalent of 15,000 lorry loads which, end-to-end, would cover the distance La Plagne to Grenoble. The video also shows a 25 ton lift station (4.5 metres wide and 15 metres long) being transported along mountain roads on the ski slopes in a single piece
All the summer work was carried out in-house in 2012. SAP Management said their decision to make the film was to highlight internal skills and to promote an image of pride in the company to its partners.

"These rare images show the daily life of the mechanics and electricians who work with passion in high-altitude conditions and difficult terrain that are sometimes worthy of the TV show "Ice Road Truckers," said a resort statement.

The video is available to view here:



The resort says that English subtitles will be added next week.

A further 9.5 million Euros is planned to be spent on upgrades this summer, but it's not been announced if a film is being made…

Alpe d'Huez, picture credit NUTS.fr)

A coach that was collecting a tour operator's staff from several resorts in the French Alps has crashed near to Alpe d'Huez, killing the 64 year old driver and reportedly leaving four people still in hospital, three of them seriously injured.

The coach, which some reports say was towing a trailer, is reported to have been travelling on the notoriously steep sole Alpe d'Huez access road, which it left towards the bottom of the hill, having already negotiated more than 20 hairpin bends, colliding with rocks and then bursting in to flame. No other vehicle was involved. The bus was destroyed by the ensuing fire with passengers jumping to safety where they could. More than 100 fire fighters and other emergency services attended the incident according to reports.

Some reports have suggested that the accident was caused by brake failure and that the driver shouted to warn passengers moments before the accident that there was a mechanical failure, however a SkiBound statement says this is not yet confirmed,

"The exact cause of the accident is as yet not known and we must await the report from the accident investigation team and local authorities in France before any comment can be made. We have made arrangements for an independent safety specialist to be sent to the scene to support the investigation."

Of the other people on the coach, who were rescued by a fleet of three helicopters, 25 who were initially taken to hospital for observation have now been released and 23 escaped the crash without requiring hospitalisation.

The coach was hired by Brighton-based schools ski operator Skibound, who have been in business for 28 years, to bring its staff back to the UK at the end of the season. Everyone from the bus are reported to have gathered with Ski Bound management and police in a local hotel and the company is making plans for those able to travel to fly home, and for relatives of those still in hospital to fly to France.

The coach, which had two drivers, was hired from a company based in Sunderland and had begun collecting staff from Serre Chevalier and had planned to return through the UK dropping staff at points throughout England ending in Newcastle.

"At the moment, our thoughts are with those who have been involved in the accident and we wish to extend our deepest sympathies to them and their relatives and friends," said the Skibound statement, which also thanks the British consulate and French emergency services.

Cortina d'Ampezzo picture Credit - D G Bandion

A decision by the people of Cortina d'Ampezzo at the weekend will open the way for one of the longest, and most unusual ski trips in the world – staying on piste and ascending with ski lifts.

Attendees of a public debate and vote on whether or not to connect two of Cortina d'Ampezzo's three main, separate ski areas, voted in favour of installing lifts to join the Tofana ski sector above the famous ski town to the more distant Lagazuoi-5 Torri sector, currently linked by a ski bus service.

The connection will be internationally significant for several reasons, but for skiers and boarders staying in Cortina it opens up the enticing possibility of being able to ski for many miles from the resort centre as far as Val di Fassa and Val Gardena without needing to take their skis off, except to cross the odd road or ride up in a cable car to make connections.

That's because Lagazuoi lies at the start of one of Europe's great ski runs, the 'Hidden Valley' descent, an 8.5km groomed red-blue grade run that descends towards Val Badia and the Sella Ronda, a giant circuit of lifts and runs around the Sella Massif stretching for nearly 40km/25 miles and linking the ski areas of Alta Badia, Val Gardena, Arabba and Val di Fassa among others. Altogether some estimate there are around 500km of linked runs in the region – second only to the 3 Valleys in France.

Another unusual fact is that the final connection between the bottom of the Hidden Valley run and the Sella Ronda at Armentarola is made by a unique horse powered 'drag lift' available at a 2 Euro supplement to your lift pass.

Altogether connecting the two areas may make an area of some 580km, all included (along with as much again in other sectors) on the Dolomiti Superski pass. It will be a one way trip from Cortina however, as there's no lift back up the Hidden Valley route, a bus or shared taxi (6 Euros each) service is available for that.

The decision is so new that the timetable for lift construction has not yet been agreed or the longest trip possible on the route measured, but a Cortina Tourist Office spokesperson said that given a fair wind, the lifts could be operational by next winter.

The latest confrontations between French police and British people working in the Alps has led to a ski teacher spending 24 hours in jail, a student taking legal action against French police for assault, a ski school operator facing three months in jail, a demonstration by 50-100 British holiday makers outside Megeve police station and a call by a British MP for government action according to reports by the BBC, the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph.

The latest incident happened in Megeve last week when a long established British ski teacher who has worked in the resort for more than a decade is reported to have been arrested while videoing students by four gendarmes. He was kept in the local police station's jail cell for 24 hours while tourists held a vigil outside.

The French position is that although a highly qualified and respected ski teacher, the individual concerned does not hold the 'Eurotest' certification, agreed in 2003 as a requirement to be able to teach in France and he may therefore be imprisoned for up to a year when the case comes to court. His employer, a British man who also operates a small tour operation to Megeve and says he brings in an estimated €1m to the local economy each year, is reported to have been previously arrested by being handcuffed and led from the slopes and currently is under as three month suspended prison sentence. He is considering closing his 30 year old operation and returning to the UK.

A spokesman for BASI, the Association of British Snowsports Instructors, appeared to support the French police position when quoted on the BBC.

Some reports say that the Eurotest is difficult to pass however good a ski teacher you are as it involves completing a World Cup style ski descent; others say that ski schools are not allowed to operate in France unless they have at least 10 instructors qualified to Eurotest standard, ruling out small operations even when they do have the qualifications; and others that the dominant French ESF ski school does not insist all of its own ski teachers hold the Eurotest qualification. The ESF has previously distanced itself from the French court decision against Le Ski, although issued a statement saying they agreed with it, but did not financially gain from fines imposed.

Le Ski say this is untrue and the money awarded by the courts has gone to ESF. The ESF has not responded to J2ski requests for clarification on these issues.

In a separate incident that has come to light through the Daily Mail, a British student was allegedly assaulted by French gendarmes when she tried to photograph a ski teacher being questioned by police about his teaching qualifications. She is reported to now be taking legal action against the French police.

The incidents follow the court case against Le Ski for employing ski guides to show people around the slopes on familiarisation, non-teaching tours, who do not have adequate ski teaching qualifications according to French law. The cases is now subject to appeal by Le ski, who are backed by a dozen leading British tour operators, with ski guiding familiarisation tours by so called 'ski hosts' currently suspended. Le Ski has also operated in France for more than 30 years.

French police say the incidents do not reflect a change in attitude or campaign against non-French workers by them.

France is currently the leading destination nation for British skiers and some French resorts receive more British than French skiers.